1 I WROTE my first account, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus did and taught,
2 till the day that having given charge to the apostles whom he chose by the Holy Spirit he was taken up;
3 to whom also he presented himself living after his suffering, by many proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking things relating to the kingdom of God.
4 And assembling them, he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which [says he] you have heard from me;
5 that John baptized indeed with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit after a few days.
6 They therefore having come together asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?
7 And he said to them, It is not your [province] to know the times or seasons which the Father has appointed by his own authority;
8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
9 And having said these words, as they were looking on he was taken up, and a cloud received him from their sight.
10 And as they looked steadily to heaven while he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing;
11 and they said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking at heaven? This Jesus taken up from you to heaven shall so come in the manner in which you have seen him go to heaven.
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called [the Mount] of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey [distant].
13 And when they came, they went up into the upper room where staid Peter and John, and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the [brother] of James.
14 All these continued with one accord in prayer, with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
15 And in those days Peter standing up in the midst of the brothers, said??he multitude together was about a hundred and twenty??16 Men and brothers, it was necessary that the Scripture should be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who became a guide to them that apprehended Jesus;
17 For he was numbered with us, and obtained the inheritance of this service.
18 This man therefore purchased a field with the price of the wickedness, and falling headlong burst in the middle and all his bowels were poured out;
19 and this became known to all who lived at Jerusalem, so that that field was called in their language Aceldamach, which is Field of blood.
20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his dwelling be desolate and let no one dwell in it, and his superintendency let another take.
21 It is necessary therefore that one of the men who have gone with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
22 beginning from the baptism of John till the day on which he was taken up from us, should be made with us a witness of his resurrection.
23 And they proposed two; Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.
24 And praying, they said, Do thou, Lord, the searcher of all hearts, show which of these two thou hast chosen
25 to take the place of this service and apostleship from which Judas fell by transgression to go to his place.
26 And they cast their lots, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.